I've known Lynn Thompson for 20 years. He is a very strongly opinionated guy, but has never been out of line with me or anyone else that I have seen.

He did not seem to appreciate that I replace the rubber handles on his knives with Micarta, wood, or other materials, but he was not offended.

What is the CS company policy that is bad? I have sent a few knives that might have slipped through QC, and they have been replaced right away. And the CS parking lot sales are awesome.

I don't know him personally, and I've heard that he's a nice guy. I've got no beef with him as a person. I'm just not too fond of his advertising and over the top claims. I think some of the tests he runs are a bit goofy.

It's just a subejective matter, and I don't let it cloud my judgement about CS knives. I've got around a dozen or so and have no complaints about any of them. Mr. Thompson has his knives made by good, reputable companies (the Carbon V line made by Camillus was awesome, I miss it!).

My customers seem to enjoy CS knives as well, and quite a few of them love the "Proof" DVDs and can't get enough of them. So I'll even admit that they actually help sales. However, I don't like his style.

I do agree on the rubber handles! My old faithful Master Hunter (Carbon V blade) is going to get some nice wood handles soon, I'm just waiting for my favourite maker's waiting list to thin down a bit.

__________________

Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure;
Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure.
- Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron), Don Juan
(canto XII, st. 6)

I don't know him personally, and I've heard that he's a nice guy. I've got no beef with him as a person. I'm just not too fond of his advertising and over the top claims. I think some of the tests he runs are a bit goofy.

It's just a subejective matter, and I don't let it cloud my judgement about CS knives. I've got around a dozen or so and have no complaints about any of them. Mr. Thompson has his knives made by good, reputable companies (the Carbon V line made by Camillus was awesome, I miss it!).

My customers seem to enjoy CS knives as well, and quite a few of them love the "Proof" DVDs and can't get enough of them. So I'll even admit that they actually help sales. However, I don't like his style.

I do agree on the rubber handles! My old faithful Master Hunter (Carbon V blade) is going to get some nice wood handles soon, I'm just waiting for my favourite maker's waiting list to thin down a bit.

I agree about the marketing. But it has been very effective for them! You used to be able to bring another makers knife into their shop and they would test it next to one of theirs. Not sure if they still do that. They also offer courses and instruction on the "use" of their knives, which I highly recommend. And in their defense I did try some of their tests on other knives and none of them survived. One of their Carbon V LTC Kukri is strapped on my ATV and in several years of use I have never needed to sharpen it. It is used to clear tree branches and chop smaller firewood, etc.

I have my original Master Hunter Carbon V that I put black a Micarta handle on. It has been my "go everywhere" belt knife for over 15 years. Also have a San Mai III Master Hunter, but have not had time to replace the rubber so it still lives in the box. My Carbon V goes rusty every year during Elk season due to the perpetual rain. That is the only flaw.

__________________NRA-Life
CRPA-LifeSAF-LifePEIAPOI

"Obama has ordered the launching of more Tomahawk cruise missiles than All the other Nobel Peace Prize winners combined."

I own several cold steel products fron a wakazashi to a tomahawk and they have all been excellent in my opinion. They usually run the best specials around christmas time and sometimes you can get discontinued or older models for half if not less from special projects. My only complaint with CS is that they only offer one or two folders astetically pleasing for me to want to buy. I have a TI-Lite because its an awesomwe knife that looks great but thats about the only folder that they have that i like. Wish they would mak some more traditional looking blades in folders......id buy them

I have a Carbon V TrailMaster that is my favorite knife.
I've got a bunch more-a few throwers,a peacekeeper II,a Kopis and a Kukri machete......and I have given ColdSteel knives as gifts.

Great stuff.
Thanks for the link.
All I can do is drool tho-cash is short these days

Oh,well.

I'll go fondle my trailmaster.

__________________"You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul."-Mahatma Gandhi